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Email Inbox Can Reveal The Kind of Person You Are

How many unread messages do you have in the Inbox ? Is your Spam and Trash folder empty ? Do you respond to incoming mail immediately on arrival (including spam) ? Answers to these simple questions may reveal a lot about your personality and upbringing.

According to new research, the makeup and tidiness of your inbox is a reflection of your habits, your mental health and even the way Mom and Dad raised you. The disorder in our inboxes mirrors the disorder in our homes, marriages and checkbooks.

"If you keep your inbox full rather than empty, it may mean you keep your life cluttered in other ways," says psychologist Dave Greenfield. On the other hand, if you obsessively clean your inbox every 10 minutes, you may be so quick to move on that you miss opportunities and ignore nuances. Or your compulsion for order may be sapping your energy from other endeavors, such as your family.

The story also mentions Merlin Mann of 43folders.com who uses a few dozen "templates" to answer email -- prewritten form letters in which he inserts a person's name or a personalized comment. He also empties his inbox hourly. "You have to treat your inbox like you treat your mailbox at home," he says. "You wouldn't store your bills inside your mailbox. And leaving spam in your inbox is like leaving garbage in your kitchen."